Farmers Forum staff
OTTAWA — Ford’s all-electric pickup truck may be hitting the end of the road, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The publication reported last week that Ford Motor Company executives “are in active discussions about scrapping” the F-150 Lighting, the electric version of the company’s ubiquitous pickup.
The Lightning was the first mainstream EV pickup released by one of the ‘big three’ auto manufacturers when the model debuted in 2022. Sales never lived up to expectations, and the slump has worsened with the recent elimination of taxpayer subsidies on the purchase price of elective vehicles (EVs).
In the U.S., car-buyers’ response to the repeal of a $7,500 EV tax credit “has been swift and dramatic,” market insights company J.D. Power reported in November. “For the month of October 2025, the first full month following the expiration of the federal incentive program, EV sales plummeted by 47 % and now represent just 6 % of total monthly new vehicle sales, down from 12.9 % in September.”
Canada’s $5,000 EV grant program ran out of money in January and won’t be restarted, according to Transport Canada. Canadian sales of new EVs fell to an 8.1 % market share in 2025, down from 13.7 % in 2024, Bloomberg News reported.
Meanwhile, the Lightning’s reputation took a major hit on social media when Dalbir Bala, a Winnipeg-area trucking firm owner, complained about having to abandon his Lightning on a road trip to Chicago in 2023. Widely reported by Canadian and U.S. media, Bala’s truck effectively ran out of juice in Albertville, Minnesota because of a series of non-functional charging stations along his planned route.
A test of the truck’s towing performance by The Fast Lane Truck YouTube channel also found that its range plummeted to less than 130 km when hitched to a modest camper trailer. The video racked up almost 3 million views.
